Judging
solely by revenue, things look pretty good at the country’s two biggest
energy players, Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. (No. 9) and Suncor Energy
Corp. (No. 11), despite all the troubles in Alberta’s oilpatch. Revenue
grew 28.4% at the former and 19.2% at the latter, and both posted
healthy profits and growth. Yet investors clearly favour Suncor over
Enbridge. Suncor’s market cap (as of April 24, 2018) had grown $10.4
billion over the previous year while Enbridge’s value slumped a
whopping $24.9 billion, a 31.5% decline. One clue to the investor
discontent is the pipeline company’s long-term debt, which stands at
$63.7 billion, the second-highest in the country behind only Brookfield
Asset Management Inc.’s $99-billion load. By comparison, Suncor’s debt
stands at $13.4 billion, 19th highest. More telling perhaps is that
Suncor’s debt declined by $2.7 billion from last year, while Enbridge’s
jumped $23.1 billion, mostly due to its $37-billion acquisition of U.S.
rival Spectra Energy Corp. Debt-rating agency Moody’s in December
downgraded Enbridge’s senior unsecured debt to Baa3 from Baa2, just
short of junk status, though the natural gas producer is actively
trying to shed costs and assets to bring its debt down.